


fooled around and fell in love

by lucymonster



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 00:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2830988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucymonster/pseuds/lucymonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Intergalactic flirting for dummies.</p><p>Or: five times Peter tries to charm Drax, plus one time it actually sort of works.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fooled around and fell in love

**Author's Note:**

> For [internaljohnologue](http://internaljohnologue.tumblr.com/).

It’s possible Peter has had a few too many drinks on the day he decides to vocalise the thoughts that have been stewing inside him for the past few months. “You have earned his trust in the field of battle,” says Gamora, feet kicked comfortably up on the table as she polishes her blade in slow, careful strokes. “Drax recognises you as a worthy leader. He has accompanied you faithfully through many trials.”

“Sure,” says Peter; the world lurches a little as he leans forward to hold her gaze. “But does he _like_ me?”

Gamora blinks. Then she blinks again. “Fool,” she says, and goes back to her polishing. It is in this moment that it occurs to Peter: he is going to have to take matters into his own hands.

It still seems like a good idea when he wakes up the next morning, so he goes with it.

 

**1\. The Serenade**

“I am no babe.” Drax knocks back the last of his beer with the practiced skill of a man who has been over the legal drinking age for a very long time now. “I am a grown man and a seasoned warrior, as I will gladly demonstrate to anyone who -”

“No, oh my god, that’s not what - it’s just Earth slang,” says Peter, kicking himself quietly for not having vetted the lyrics more thoroughly. “It’s affectionate. Like a pet name.”

Drax bristles. His chest is swelling outward, muscles rippling with the tension that precedes the drawing of his daggers. “You insult me with your human _pet names_. Mine is a proud, free race. I challenge any soul who would hold us in domestic servitude.”

“You know what,” says Peter, “never mind.”

 

**2\. The Romantic Dinner**

“...and I crushed his puny head, and left his body to rot upon the forsaken mud fields of Hala.”

“That’s great, Drax.” Peter stops swirling his finger in the melting candle-wax for long enough to top up Drax’s glass. And his own, for good measure. “How’s the food?”

“Delicious.” Drax picks up a large leg bone and tears a chunk off with his teeth. “The others will regret their absence tonight.”

It took Peter every ounce of his persuasive power (and most of his available spending money) to talk the rest of the crew off the ship for a night. Groot is visiting a nursery on a nearby local planet; Gamora decided she had some shopping to do, and Peter has learned from experience that it works out much better if he just takes Gamora’s cover stories at face value. “The others are fine,” he says, and fixes Drax with his most charming smile. “I was actually hoping we could talk about us.”

“Very well.” For a moment Peter thinks that Drax is trying to return his smile, but no - he’s just picking a bit of mutton out of his teeth. “What of the time we vanquished those Kree mercenaries together? That one is a worthy tale.”

Peter sighs, and empties his glass in one swig.

 

**3\. The Bouquet**

His mother’s mixtapes are always going on about roses. There aren’t any of those on the little dustbowl planet where they stop to refuel, but Peter does get his hands on a small bunch of floppy blue cactus-like flowers that he thinks look alright. He is cautiously optimistic that Drax will agree.

He doesn’t make it past the door of the ship.

“Where did you get those?” snaps Gamora, snatching the flowers and holding them gingerly between two fingers. “My supply ran out weeks ago, I’ve been hunting around at every station we pass -”

“Hey, cut that out!” Peter is too slow; Gamora, having pulled on a pair of thick leather gloves, is already stripping the petals from the stems and stuffing them into a pouch on her belt. “They’re supposed to be for Drax -”

“You mean to poison Drax?” demands Gamora.

“What?” bellows Drax, head shooting out from the door to the cockpit.

“I am Groot,” says Groot reprovingly.

 

**4\. The Movie Night**

It turns out that Drax’s home planet doesn’t have movies. Going by how excited Drax gets when Peter explains the concept to him, that’s probably a good thing.

“This is impossible,” Drax says, pulling his hand away from the armrest so that Peter’s searching fingers meet thin air. “No gun in the galaxy can shoot at such speed. I would have heard of it.”

“Could have used one of those against Ronan, huh?” says Peter, making a clumsy effort to redirect his air-grab into a convincing stretch. Damn, didn’t he used to be good at this?

“Our own strength was sufficient,” says Drax. His lips are twitching. Peter’s heart skips a beat, and he opens his mouth to...

“ _Shut up and watch the movie_ ,” hisses the man in front of them.

 

**5\. The Heartfelt Gesture**

“That was a disaster,” says Gamora calmly.

“Shut up.” Peter shakes his sopping hair out of his eyes and stares around morosely at the wreckage of his last-ditch effort. “Man, I’m such an idiot.”

“True.”

“If Drax didn’t hate me before, I guess he hates me now.”

“Not true.” The look Gamora gives Peter hovers somewhere between disgust and pity. “He has tolerated all your schemes until now, hasn’t he?” With an impatient roll of her eyes, she tosses a clean towel over Peter’s shoulders. “Stop being foolish and just tell him what you want.”

Afterwards, Peter will swear that this was his plan all along.

 

**+1.**

“You are...romantically attracted to me.” 

Peter swallows. “Yes,” he says. Every bone in his body is screaming at him to add a witty rejoinder of some sort, but he resists. Keeps it simple. He can’t possibly make things any worse than they already are.

Drax is silent for so long that Peter starts to wonder if he is too disgusted to use words.

“But you rebuffed me so many times,” Drax say finally, and now it is Peter’s turn to stare in wordless astonishment. “You questioned my manhood. You took no interest in my tales of battle triumph. You tried to poison me.”

“That was a misunderstanding,” says Peter.

“You filled my sleeping quarters with live fish -”

“Alright, alright!” Peter throws up his hands. “Maybe that wasn’t my greatest plan ever. I thought you’d find it charming.”

“You thought I would find a cabin full of captive marine life _charming_.”

“Well no offense, Romeo, but those battle stories of yours? Not exactly the stuff of great romance.”

They look at each other for a very long moment.

“Dinner tonight?” Peter offers. “I’d love to hear about that time you killed the Kree spy with a toothpick.”

It’s a little staggering, how quickly Drax’s whole face brightens. Peter can work with this.


End file.
